I agree Duritz, too many rules will kill the odds.

.........THE COMMUNIST SYSTEM................

1.Must be a race between 1100m and 2050m.
2.Unplaced last start (5th or worse) and $8SP or less last start.
3.9 day or less break since LS.
4.Age of horse 3 to 4 and having no more than 15 starts
5.Must have a win in exposed form i.e. last 4 runs
6.Must have 2 or more runs in from a spell.
7.No more than 200mtrs up or 100mtrs down in distance.
8.Weight must not be going up or down more than 2kg. [ignore claims].

I think we need the last rule to avoid country horses contesting out of their class too far and city has-beens dropping down in class too far [they both usually lose].

'must have 50% or greater place strike rate at todays distance'
We'll leave out as it's a bit too defining and will certainly affect odds too much on country tracks. A good rule for Sat. metro but trying to keep this as an any-day system. If at all perhaps an overall %SR without a distance clause[?]

OK comrades, unless their are serious dissenters [we are watching you!], we'll give this a bit of a flog and see how it goes. We might win enough roubles to buy our freedom !!